Electrolyzer successes and failures (switchplate cell)

[Joshua Siegel]

Two questions from me today…
I built a switch plate cell (12 alternating plates like hydropowercar) with a few little modifications to Bryans idea, and it works great… Sort of…
I’ve had it running off a charger at 2 amps and 10 amps. I don’t have real numbers, but from the amount of production I got compared to my chemical reactor, I’d say 2 amps @ 12 volts was 1 LPM and 10 amps @ 12 volts was 1.5 LPM (I can get concrete numbers later). Obviously the 2 amp is much more efficient, but volume must be considered with HoD applications. When I add an electrolyte and hook it up to a battery, I draw 65 amps or so and it gets hot enough to smoke small leads and make the water into steam, but I probably get 5 LPM. With one cell doing that, 7 cells in SERIES would do about 35LPM, right? Or would it just be more efficient and produce 5 LPM? I want volume here.
Despite (perhaps because of) my high volume, I’m having problems. My cell is “open” right now, in that it isn’t yet enclosed in PVC. It will be later, but I’d like to find a pressure cap or something incase of a backfire. Now, after about 30 seconds of running at high amperage, I get detonation of the hydrogen. BOOM! Is it because of the steam? Is it the heat on the (relatively) small-gauge wires? Or are the jumper cables moving and sparking? Whatever it is, I need to fix it because I’d hate to be near it when it went off.
My second series of questions is about amperage. Is it better to let the water/solution self-regulate its amperage, or should we limit the amps? Eg., should I put 2 amps into the cell with water or the cell with electrolyte added, or should I hook it up to a battery.

[eco]

I can' believe, 2 amps @ 12 volts 1LPM, congratulate

[Bob Boyce]

[pertyfly]

[Joshua Siegel]

[Joshua Siegel]

Ok, sorry to bump an old topic, BUT...
I did some testing today, using two units of the cells in series. I got VERY poor gas production, as compared with the higher amperage, but it seems very efficient.

I'm using 2 amps at 12 volts, 0 pressure (using a water-equilibrium accumulator to measure). I get .3LPM with a single cell, which I image is about .5LPM when using the two in series. In Chris's spreadsheet, this has an efficiency of "49.9," which seems pretty good considering the fact that Bob Boyce's OU "replication" is 111.7. Is this actually a really efficient design, and that it is twice as efficient (almost 3 times) as the replication? If I double my amperage to, say, 4 amps, would that double gas production? I'm worried about heat, and don't want to exceed 10 amps because I think at that point alternator drag becomes unnecesarily parasitic.

I'm very curious to see what everybody thinks. I'm not too impressed, but I think a lot of the volume before was just steam. Maybe I really am on to something, and should build more cells. I'd like to know what other people think before I invest some big $$$ and time in making another 5 cells.

Also, for hooking it up to my car, does anybody know what type of amperage a taillight passes? I've been testing very briefly using a bulb inline to limit current (rather than measuring electrolyte), but I'm betting its about 1 amp.

Lastly - I'll have real numbers for mileage relatively soon. I'm running a "baseline" tank of gas, then another with the booster. I hope it works out!

[kevinsatterfield]

Joshua:

Glad to hear someone is on the move and out for some results under the hood!
Amperage is directly related to gas volume,increase amps to max without producing to much steam and not getting too hot, everything will be manually maintenanced and kinda aggravating,as noone has completed and figured an auto maintenance system.everything is done the hard way for now.

[Joshua Siegel]

Alright, I set up a circuit with a nice little switch box to run my electolyzer. Its fun to have a "boost box" . Its a 1 ohm resistor, so I'm running about 12.5-13.5 amps.

I have two questions again that are related to this, and one just for fun.
1. My resistor gets VERY hot and is melting my enclosure. Heat is waste energy, but I don't know of another way to make it simple to limit current (so if I ever make these in bulk, I don't need to fine tune my electrolyte level every time I fill up). How can I cool this? Initially I thought putting it in/under the water would be a cool way (.5ohm/cell in both cells) to get it up to operating temperature since water has a high specific heat, but it'll eat through the container so thats a no-go.
2. How have other people hooked up the booster? I'm running a line straight under my car and right up against the filter. I think a little gap might help, since I can't feel any vaccum when the engine is running. Other ideas are welcome; holes are a no-go since this is a lease.

3. How do you guys get enough pressure to blow up ballons? I'd like to do some experimentation, but I only get volume, not pressure. Any ideas? Preferably, this would be with keeping the system in my car so the higher/uncapped bottle to build pressure isn't such a great idea.

Mileage results:
First off, my car is rated at 28/32 (Chevy impala 3.8 series II).
I'm a young guy, so I accelerate hard... Also, I was trying premium which seems to give me worse mileage (unburnt oxygen = more fuel injected?).
Anyway, I'm embarassed to say I got 16.8 miles per gallon without the booster. Keep in mind I ONLY drive city and most of my trips are sub 5-miles.

The test with the booster is coming up, but that will be on premium too. In the interest of scientific discovery, I don't want to change two variables at once. Also of note is that my car feels to accelerate harder on the butt-o-meter. That alone is fun.

[kevinsatterfield]

ummm......add another cell to drop voltage,then add another and keep doing so untill its more effecient and produces less heat.Have you got any pictures of your set up?no one has posted a project with a booster hooked up to a car on here yet. And i think preasure comes from displacement of the water through a bubbler or two,maybe more.........

[Bob Boyce]

[47mlb]

[eco]

[cnctony]

[Bob Boyce]

[cnctony]

Bob you are correct I did mean electrolyzer I call it a "fuel cell" not a PEM fuel cell that would be hydro - electricity.

I would love to post my results how do I apply for a page?

I do have a digital camera and have been taking pictures of my progress.

Would love to share my test results and get some feedback on things to try.

Thanks
Anthony